He laughs a throaty laugh and wipes some beer foam off his beard with the back of his hand. “Sorry, I know I must look like a wild hyena right now. I was justreallystarving.”
“You should have told me!”
“It’s okay. It was worth the wait. This food is incredible, and the beer is so good.” He cuts another piece and shoves it in his mouth. “Plus, the whole Bavarian decor and overall over-the-top theme of the place is hilarious. I really dig this vibe.” He laughs, and we look around at the decorated walls of the restaurant and the waitresses dressed in lederhosen with their braided pigtails.
“I’m glad you like it. They also have a two-liter boot-shaped beer glass if you’re down to try it one day!”
“Oh my God, you mean like from that movieBeerfest? The Das Boot? I don’t think I can handle something like that anymore. I swear, I might only be a couple of years past my twenties, but as soon as you hit thirty,it. Is. Brutal.It is so hard to recover from a hangover.”
I laugh at him. “Well, I’m smack in the middle of my twenties, so I think I’m still good.”
“Enjoy your final years of youth!” he says with a smirk.
I’m about to say something funny about how he’s obviously not old yet, what with being thirty-one and all, when I spy Jeremy, of all people, getting up from a table with another woman in my direct line of sight.
“No way,” I mutter under my breath.
Matt looks over his shoulder in the same direction I’m looking. “What? What is it?”
“Jeremy is here. What the hell is he doing here? He had a list of places he wasn’t allowed to go back to, ever, and this was in the top five.”
“Huh?”
“My ex. Jeremy,” I whisper. “He hated this place. Why is he even here?” He squints in our direction and smiles wickedly when he spots me, changing course. “Ohmigod, he’s coming over. I apologize in advance for what’s about to happen, because it’s bound to be bad.”
Matt stares at me, wide-eyed. “What is—”
“Elisabetta,” Jeremy says, and I wince. He only calls me by my full name when he’s trying to impress someone, to make them believe that he knows how to speak Italian, when the most he can say is, “Potrei vedere la lista dei vini?” (“May I see your wine list?”) because, according to him, all you need to know in Italy is how to order wine.
Just thinking about it makes me want to roll my eyes.
Sometimes, when I think about our relationship, I wonder why I ever thought I could be happy with him. I mean,lookat him. He’s dressed in his Indiana Jones attire again, minus the bullwhip and the Harrison Ford good looks. Like, we get it, you’re a professor. Get over it.
“I believe this was on my list of restaurants, Jeremy,” I say curtly.
He scoffs and says, “I thought we could be adults about this. You know I always loved this place.” I snort. He always fought me tooth and nail whenever I wanted to come here. “Plus, Heidi here was homesick.” He points to the redhead clinging to his side.
I’m assuming Heidi is from Germany?
“And who is this?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. “A date? How lovely. I was so very concerned you would end up alone, to be honest.”
I scoff in disbelief. Is he kidding right now? Is he seriously so petty that he has to try and undermine me in front of a guy?
“Actually,” I hear Matt say. “I’m not her date. I’m her boyfriend.”
What now?
“Boyfriend? But we have only been broken up two weeks.” Jeremy frowns.
“Sorry, and the redhead is?” Matt asks pointedly. He’s allowed to have a girlfriend after two weeks, but I’m not?
“Well, but that’s different. Heidi and I, uh…”
…started seeing each other while Liza and I were still together?
He doesn’t finish the sentence, though. Instead, Jeremy clears his throat and says, “Well, I hope you like a challenge, because she is a piece of work, my friend.” He puts his hand on Matt’s shoulder.
Matt stares down at Jeremy’s hand and pushes it off, rising from his seat.
